


The Ancient, Sacred and Most Certainly Useful Art of Parrying

by TinchoSabala



Category: Dark Souls (Video Games), Dark Souls I
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:35:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22111189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinchoSabala/pseuds/TinchoSabala
Summary: The Knight, right after leaving the Undead Asylum, soon finds himself in front of a seemingly unsurmountable obstacleHowever, his new-found friend Solaire of Astora is right there to help him....or is he?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	The Ancient, Sacred and Most Certainly Useful Art of Parrying

Today was a good day. The Knight who left the Asylum had made its way through a small town, the Undead Burg, if the man with chainmail sitting by the bonfire was to be trusted. He had attempted to face a tall warrior in dark, brownish armor, but died in the process. However, he had made use of a key he had bought from a hollowing man to open a house, and inside what seemed like a backyard, the Knight found a chest with some golden powder. When he asked the merchant what it was, he said it was used to infuse lightning into a surface. The Knight immediately thought of applying it on his broadsword, but he still wasn’t able to finish off the dark warrior.

He bypassed the armored warrior, and after dodging a barrel set on fire and falling to his death, then returning to find the barrel was no more, the Knight passed through another wall made of fog. He walked across a bridge, and noticed a sound coming from behind him. When he turned to look however, a great beast fell down to the bridge, shaking the structure. The Knight hurriedly tried to leave, and that’s when he noticed the ladder. He climbed it and met the ones who were causing that sound- two hollows with crossbows. The Knight dispatched them quickly with a few slashes from his broadsword, and then looked down at the beast, still on the bridge. Remembering his encounter with the Demon in the Undead Asylum, the Knight jumped, and plunged his broadsword into the beast’s head.

The fight after that was unusual. Trapped in a tight space, the Knight found that he couldn’t back away from the beast’s blows as easily as he wished he could have. So, right there and then, he stripped himself from his leggings, making his gear lighter and easier to roll.

It was a memorable fight for the Knight. He was beaten by the demon’s axe, or mace, or hammer, whatever it was. But the Knight also learned many things. He’d get close to the beast, slash it’s legs, then roll through the gap between it’s thighs while the monster prepared to attack. In a split-second decision, the Knight took out the golden resin and spread it on his sword’s blade. Judging from the pained cries the monster gave out after that, it was unquestionable that the powder did indeed hold wondrous powers.

After the encounter with the horned beast, the Knight moved forward. He found himself standing in front of a door that would not open, and a bridge with a few hollows. When he looked to his right, however, he saw an ample, empty-looking place. He decided to head there, with a bit of luck, he would find a bonfire in which to fill up his Estus again.

Instead, the Knight found a friend. He met Solaire of Astora, who told him of the intricacies of time and space in this age, and gave him a curious looking white stone, which he said could be used to transcend one’s world and seek out warriors from other realities. The Knight started to think that this Solaire wasn’t entirely sane, along with the fact that he could look directly into the sun without being blinded by its light.

The Knight decided to ignore it, however, as the man seemed sincere and friendly, and, in the harsh, ruthless world he was facing, a friend seemed like the only way to keep one’s head in place.

After that, he turned to the bridge. The man with chainmail had told him that that was the way to the Undead Parish, where one of the Bells of Awakening resided. And, if the Knight wanted to honor the man who saved him from the Asylum, that’s where he was headed.

Holding his shield high and battle-ready, the Knight faced the spear-wielding hollows in front of him. He soon found out it was something completely useless, as fire flooded the bridge, killing the two hollows. The Knight fell down to his knees in pain, but thankfully, did not die. He looked up, at the other end of the bridge and, by Allfather Lloyd, that thing couldn’t exist.

Standing atop a structure was what the Knight thought was a gigantic, menacing and very much real dragon. It was colossal, being probably twice- no, thrice as large as the entire bridge! It’s scales were red, standing out from the mossy, ruinous grey of the Undead Burg and the Parish like the extraordinary creature it was, and its eyes, burning with wrath inconceivable by any other living being, matched only by the heat of the dragon’s fiery breath. Needless to say, the Knight immediately ran back towards his new-found friend, Solaire.

Trembling and out of breath, the Knight told his friend what happened. The great dragon by the end of the bridge, how it burned everything to a crisp, reducing a whole layer of the bridge’s structure to ashes, and how it would probably breath it’s deadly fire again, were the Knight to approach it. Solaire first chuckled a bit, telling the Knight that what he saw was the Hellkite Wyvern, and that it usually perched itself atop the Altar of Sunlight. But then, Solaire looked at the knight with grave eyes, and told him this:

“If you wish to walk through that bridge, you must prove yourself to the Hellkite Wyvern.” His voice, usually calm, was now much more serious.

“B-but how? I’ve only just come here from the Undead Asylum, and I’m barely regaining my senses and abilities!” The Knight cried out to Solaire, confused and unknowing about what this all meant.

Solaire looked at him briefly. “In that case, you must learn of the ancient ways of the warrior, methods our ancestors utilized to combat these other-worldly beings.” He looked the Knight, with an unusual glow in his eyes. “You will learn to parry.”

The Knight was then led by Solaire back to the dark, armored warrior. It was standing with it’s back to Solaire and the Knight, the former instructing the latter on what to do.

“In order to parry, my young apprentice, you need to analyze your adversary’s movements, the weapon being used and the way it’s handled. You must calculate the speed and force of the attack, and based on all of this information, you will find the perfect moment to move your shield to the perfect position to disrupt the attack with a simple touch and stagger your opponent. The reason as to why this is so important, my young apprentice, is because parrying shows that you have mastery over the arts of combat, giving a warning to everyone around you not to mess with you, and staggering your enemy provides a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attack it in ways that it’d simply not be possible, were your adversary with his guard up.” Honestly, the Knight understood nothing from Solaire’s insight into the art of parrying, but he nodded anyways, since he didn’t want to appear daft to his new friend.

Solaire then motioned the apprentice to approach the dark, armored warrior. While the Knight was doing so, stealthily, both to impress his master and to gain the advantage of surprise, Solaire started chanting, until a ray from the sun itself was on his hands. He then threw it, much like a javelin, to the warrior, slightly burning the Knight’s helmet. The warrior turned, and faced the Knight. He then readied his greatsword to strike in a downwards diagonal-left slash.

“WHAT DO I DO!” Shouted the Knight, panicked.

“QUICK, MOVE YOUR SHIELD SIDEWAYS!” Solaire responded in an equally loud voice.

Yelling, the Knight did as he was told and, miraculously, he managed to deflect the warrior’s greatsword, making it lose it’s balance. The Knight seized his opportunity, and plunged the sword deep into the armored warrior, who then fell to the ground.

The Knight expected it to be over, but the warrior stood up again, and attempted to attack the Knight. However, his great sword was parried again, and this time, the Knight was even quicker with his riposte. The warrior stayed on the ground, this time.

Solaire, behind him, was clapping.

“By the name of Gwyn’s firstborn, you are a quick student!”

“Wait, really? Is that it? That’s parrying?” The Knight couldn’t believe he had mastered such an ancient art in only a moment.

Solaire nodded, and both of them returned to the bridge. It seemed like the Hellkite Wyvern had grown anxious waiting for the two knights to return, as the burned corpses of the other hollows standing on the bridge could be seen.

“Alright, my friend. He’s all yours” Was the only thing Solaire said.  
Doubts started to creep into the Knight. How was he going to do this? One thing was a moderately sized greatsword, but…but this was the Hellkite Wyvern. A mythical creature, known far and wide for testing warriors and their skills. Was his tiny kite shield really going to do the job? 

The Knight buried those questions deep into his mind, and approached the Wyvern. The dragon-like creature immediately started to breath fire. The Knight had not expected this. What was he going to do about this? He started yelling and, in an act of reflex, moving his shield sideways. Then something strange happen. The fire…it didn’t burn the Knight. In fact, it had been repelled, right back at the Wyvern. Could…could it be? Did the Knight just…parry the fire?!?

With new-found resolve, the Knight marched forward, his kite shield, which now seemed as impenetrable as a mountain, on front of him. The wyvern seemed…smaller now, it’s red scales weren’t as stunning as before, and most of the heat in it’s eyes had been replaced by fear, for it was now the Hellkite’s turn to panic. This little man had just…repelled his fire with an even little piece of tinfoil! How…how could this be? The Wyvern then decided to do the unthinkable- it lunged at the Knight, with all of it’s body into it.

The resolve on the warrior wavered. It was quite the sight, a dragon about to smash him to pulp. But, he couldn’t stop now. He knew what he had to do. He waited for the right moment, calculated the weight of the dragon’s body, the force of it’s impulse, and the concentrated power on the head. He found the right moment and the perfect position, and in one swift motion, he moved his shield sideways.

The Knight was pushed off the bridge by the Hellkite Wyvern, where he fell to his death, and probably hollowed. After that, the Wyvern emitted a sound comparable to a laugh. What a fool the little man had been. To parry a dragon, that was more stupid than trying to parry magic! Although, to be fair, one was left to wonder, how did the kite shield repel the fire breath? The Wyvern was entertained for the rest of the day thinking about this, so much he didn’t notice Solaire walking through the bridge, and resting at the bonfire. Solaire then took his helmet off, revealing the face of a bald man, who started to laugh. 

“What a fool that knight had been” Patches thought. “To parry a dragon! Dear me, am I the only one with it’s sanity left in this rotten world? What a gloomy thought…Hehehe…”

**Author's Note:**

> Yay. My first fanfiction.  
> This is loosely based on a little story I came up with after the Hellkite Wyvern got bugged and died, once when I was playing DSR.  
> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
